'We are mistaken when we say that 'It isn't the same for them as it would be for us', and that people bred in the slums can imagine nothing but the slums. For what I saw on her face was not the ignorant suffering of an animal. She knew well enough what was happening to her - understood as well as I did how dreadful a destiny it was to be kneeling there in the bitter cold, on the slimy stones of a slum backyard, poking a stick up a foul drain-pipe.'

About the Author

Eric Arthur Blair (1903-1950), better known by his pen-name, George Orwell, was born in India, where his father worked for the Civil Service. An author and journalist, Orwell was one of the most prominent and influential figures in twentieth-century literature. His unique political allegory Animal Farm was published in 1945, and it was this novel, together with the dystopia of <i.Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which brought him world-wide fame. All his novels and non-fiction, including Burmese Days (1934), Down and Out in Paris and London (1933), The Road to Wigan Pier (1937) and Homage to Catalonia (1938) are published in Penguin Modern Classics.

Industry Reviews

True genius ... all his anger and frustration found their first proper means of expression in Wigan Pier -- Peter Ackroyd * The Times *

Immerses you in turn of the century England

4

I was told to read this by a relative of mine while we were talking about 1984. I couldn't get my head around the fact that Orwell was a Socialist. This book definitely convinced me otherwise. A great portrayal of conditions of the working class in England at the turn of the century. Interestingly I found Orwell's vision of a Socialist future similar to modern day Socialists beliefs. The difference is these days we have the weight of evidence to show that it does not work. But this book was written in a very different time with the second world war still in the future. Orwell also references other books that I have added to my wishlist to better understand his reasoning. A very good read indeed.